Oranjestad, St Eustatius: Travel Councillor Suzanna Pinder shares her experience on her visit to St Eustatius, also known as Stakia. It’s a small Dutch island dominated by Quill National Park and a dormant volcano.
Suzanna stated that she only had a short time in Statia, but local hiking was quite enjoyable, with well-laid-out paths and a wholesome National Park Office.
Statia also prides herself on diving, with the National Park and some good local dive centres extending beneath the waves. Even though Statia is often not a popular tourist destination, the people there love to engage with tourists. Suzanna and her colleagues were given a warm welcome.
The New Town of Statia on top of the cliffs is very friendly and has a lovely charm. With some pretty restored buildings and houses and the picturesque Fort Oranje, one can spend a delightful couple of hours wandering around the town as the sun sets, encouraged by the locals to take as many wild mangoes as possible.
Today Statia’s economy depends mainly on a large oil storage depot, which, whilst rather blots the landscape as you approach the island, with tanks ashore and large ships at anchor, once landed at the main town of Oranjestad, this is mostly hidden, and it is a rather pleasant little Caribbean town.
Suzanna explained that the waterfront is home to the Old Town, with some lovely restored merchant buildings, mainly now used as restaurants and small hotels.
Unfortunately, one of the first islands to begin importing and trading enslaved people, the path to the New Town on top of the cliffs is via the ‘Slave Path’. Steep, uneven and with no shade from the blazing sun, it is a sharp, hot climb that leads to the lovely shady town square.
Today Statia’s economy depends mainly on a large oil storage depot, which, whilst rather blots the landscape as you approach the island, with tanks ashore and large ships at anchor, once landed at the main town of Oranjestad, this is mostly hidden, and it is a rather pleasant little Caribbean town.
Part of the Dutch West Indies, Statia was once a trade capital and one of the world’s busiest harbours. Dealing in everything from fabric to gold and tobacco to guns, whilst the rest of Europe was fighting over Caribbean islands and trying to quash the American rebels, the Dutch remained neutral, opened a free port and happily liaised between counties not allowed to deal with each other.
Often referred to as ‘officially approved smuggling’, in 1770, Statia produced around 600,000 pounds of sugar but exported 20 million pounds of sugar on paper! The local merchants became rich, and the island was known as the Golden Rock.
